Pieces
by Kay Willow
Summary: After an especially strange day, Zero suddenly starts to notice how important the things he takes for granted really are. WARNING: AU and complete unrepenetant shounen ai fluff


Credit goes to both Swythangel-san, for inspiring me to write it, and Ryan-san, for helping me name it. ^^v 

This has an interesting setting, and regards Curriculum 09. If you haven't seen 09, just consider it an alternate universe. More explanation will be provided in the fic. ^__^ You'll figure it out, minna. 

This fic contains shounen ai, and is basically 100% pure fluff. Yep. It exists for the sole purpose of being mushy. In case you don't know me, it's Zero/Erts, and I hope you all enjoy it, even if you're not fond of the pairing. Reviews always welcomed~~~. *hopeful* 

* * *

PIECES   
a fluffy oneshot   
by Kay Willow   


It was hardly the first time Zero Enna had been sent home from school early. On the contrary, it was usually about once a week that he wound up trudging home, by himself, before noon. If he managed to make it for three whole days without getting kicked out, his mother would tease on the fourth morning that she'd have lunch waiting for him after the fistfight. 

It was, however, the first time that he had been sent home early for something he had not -- on some level -- intended to do. 

Zero puzzled over the situation, feeling vaguely lightheaded as he shuffled down the dusty path, swinging his knapsack in one hand. He remembered waking up and feeling STRANGE... 

Damn straight, he'd felt strange. He'd been surprised to see the horizon. Surprised to see the horizon! What could possibly be more natural than the horizon?! And he hadn't recognized it. He'd wanted to know how the air kept from rushing out. 

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Zero muttered. "And making myself look stupid in front of CLAY, no less; he'll never let me live it down, not for the rest of my life..." 

And the moment Kizna had been about to rush inside to summon his mother, he'd suddenly felt like himself again. Stood up and brushed himself off and hurried them on their way, refusing to discuss the altogether WEIRD incident of displacement because he had no explanations or even theories. 

All he'd wanted was to get to school so he could talk about it with the one person who would understand... 

Zero sighed. "But he wasn't even in school today," he griped, kicking at a rock. "Must be sick again." 

With Erts absent, he'd been at a loss for what to do with himself. He wound up just listening as the others badmouthed him for his weird behavior -- of COURSE the first thing Kizna and Clay had done was make a beeline for their other friends so they could spread the gossip, the traitors -- whereas normally he would've punched Yamagi for his words, and at the very least shouted at Wrecka. 

"Cute, am I? Great, maybe she's going to try putting ME into a collar like the one she's got on Roose." Zero knew better than to assume that it was a genuine compliment. Not from WRECKA-CHAN, master manipulator and queen of the world, to whom _cute_ meant _silly and easy to lead around by the nose_. 

He'd started remembering things that weren't real. Visions of giant machines that people rode around in, and a spaceship, and a life of constant warfare. Exciting and all, but somehow depressing when he'd actually thought he'd BEEN there... And everyone else had been there, too, both the same and different... 

That was when the trouble had really begun. 

Zero shook his head and ground to a halt. "If I go home, Kaasan's going to ask me what got me kicked out of school this time," he said to the clear blue sky. The open, perfectly natural clear blue sky, the sky that he'd lived under all his life, the sky that had never and would never be contained in glass and metal like some sort of snowglobe. His imagination was way too active. "Then I'll have to explain this to her." 

He couldn't even explain it to himself yet. Visions, schizophrenic episodes, spontaneous levitation of the entire classroom, and then an explosion... It just wasn't his normal kind of mischief. 

"So instead of going home..." He perked up, struck by a brilliant idea. "I'll go visit Erts!" 

Poor Erts was sick, miserable, and probably desperate for company to relieve him of his suffering! Well, Erts could have no better friend than Zero Enna, who was already backtracking to head for the crossroads where the paths to his house and Erts' diverged. Zero would hurry right over, cheer him up with a few casual jokes and light-hearted banter, and then maybe even talk about his own situation a bit. No problem! 

The cottage that the Cuore family lived in was significantly more respectable than the one that the Enna family inhabited; Erts, after all, had two older brothers and a pair of parents in the same house with him, and Zero's only contained his mother and himself. Erts' father was a merchant of very good reputation, and the franchise kept his family living in more than enough wealth to maintain a decent home. Zero had even heard rumors that they could afford to live in one of the big cities, a concept unfathomable to him, but that they chose to live in the countryside for the sake of their younger sons. 

When Zero knocked, it was the eldest of those three boys who answered. 

Erwin (instantly recognizable because he was the only member of the Cuore clan who did NOT keep himself immaculately groomed) took in the figure at the door and snorted his opinion of the innocent and winning expression pasted onto Zero's face. He waved the boy inside and called, "Kaachan! Zero-kun's here to see Erts; come tell him he has to go home!" 

Zero's polite mask melted into a full-blown glower as the older man moved away. There was no dislike between them -- on the contrary, Zero held Erwin entirely responsible for Erts surviving to adolescence without having been targeted by every bully in the area, and was duly appreciative and awed by the large and seemingly delicate hands that had given bruises to anyone who tried -- but Erwin was the kind of guy that Zero suspected he might have come to blows with someday himself if they'd been closer to the same age. _Gentleness, tact, sensitivity:_ those were traits that the Cuore family had in abundance. All of them except Erwin. 

Renee Cuore glided into the room, looking somewhat pained at her son's phrasing, but otherwise as warm and considerate as always. Zero instantly restored his sweet expression and hopped into the foyer, chirping, "Cuore-san! You look beautiful today!" 

She laughed. Although Zero's flattery and pretenses of innocence had never fooled her for an instant, Zero had found that he liked making the effort anyway. The Cuores were such a solemn group that it was always worth it to make them smile. 

"Zero-kun, it's still late morning," she said, stepping forward and reaching out to brush at his hair lightly. 

A small cloud of white powder rose from his hair. Zero laughed nervously as the chalk dust he thought he'd shaken out already feathered down around his shoulders. "Well, it's actually early afternoon," he said, hopefully. 

She gave him a meaningful look. "What are you doing out of school so early?" she asked. 

"Funny story, that," muttered Zero. He took a deep breath. 

The maternal hand smacked him upside the head, and she laughed again. "Never mind, never mind. I'd best interrupt you before you start lying." 

Another reason why he liked visiting the Cuores was because they knew him so well that they practically WERE his family. 

"But I shouldn't let you talk to Erts today," she said fretfully. "He has the flu, you know, and we don't want you catching it..." 

Zero seized upon the _I shouldn't_ with the reflexes of a born sneak. There was a very significant difference between _I shouldn't_ and _you shouldn't_. "It won't do any harm," Zero brushed off, endeavoring to look as optimistic and illness-repellent as he could. "I've already had the flu! Antibodies and stuff, you know. And I haven't been sick a day in my life! Not since I was five years old, when I caught malaria and was better again in only an hour!" 

"Malaria?" Her lips twitched. 

"Er, polio?" he tried. 

She waved at the hallway and pressed one hand to her face to muffle the giggling. 

_And some people say that having a big fat mouth is a DISadvantage,_ Zero thought triumphantly as he bounded into the hallway and took the right-hand stairs two at a time. He didn't even knock before swinging Erts' door open. 

Of course, he never did knock, and he hadn't yet caught the younger boy in anything scandalous, or even in a state of less-than-perfect-dress. At the moment, he wasn't even sure that Erts was in the room at all. 

Then it occurred to him that maybe the enormous heap of blankets in the middle of Erts' bed actually contained a person somewhere in there. 

Zero sidled over to the stout wooden construct, looking about curiously. The room was exactly as he remembered it -- cozy and cluttered in an organized sort of fashion, filled with knick-knacks and various odds and ends that likely had never been valuable to anyone but Erts. It was a comfortable and quite personalized room. It felt like Erts. 

Hovering now over the mound of quilts and afghans and bedsheets, Zero poked at it. "You awake?" he asked gingerly. 

There was no answer. Either Erts wasn't there, or the fourteen layers of heavy fabric had dulled the helpful prod. He poked again, harder. "Hello? Erts? Are you awake? Are you even in here?" 

The mound shifted slightly, and suddenly Erts' head was visible, blond hair mussed and face screwed up, one bleary blue eye open just a crack. "Zero?" he said, and his voice was hoarse and rusty from sleep. 

Zero hooked a chair from the desk next to the bed, straddling the back of it and grinning down at his best friend. "Who else do you know who would lie his way past your protective family, barge into your room without pause, and then harass you until you woke up?" 

Erts smiled tiredly. "Oh, you're the only one." 

"If I didn't have such selective hearing, I'd think you sounded almost pleased about that." He cocked his head. "Feeling pretty bad?" he said sympathetically. 

"My head is going to explode," was the moan that served as his response as Erts buried himself in the blankets again. 

"That's a yes, I guess." 

"And THEN," he predicted direly, the grim tones somewhat muffled by the thick comforter, "my ribcage will collapse." 

"Don't you guys have aspirin?" Zero asked, raising his eyebrow at what looked like a journal on top of the dresser. He'd never seen it in Erts' room before. Although, on consideration, keeping a diary would be very like Erts -- sentimental, forward-thinking, and bizarrely cute. 

"Of course we have aspirin. I'm just the biggest wuss in the WORLD." The pile of blankets rose and shivered, almost as if the person underneath them was stretching. They deflated again, and Erts whimpered. 

"What do you mean by that?" Zero pondered the journal. He would never think of infringing on his friend's privacy, of course, but maybe since Erts wasn't LOOKING... 

There was a distinct whine in Erts' voice as he muttered something unintelligible. 

"What?" Zero asked automatically, reaching for the thin book. 

The blankets flew outward, and Zero barely yanked his hand back in time before Erts sat up, disheveled and flushed from sickness. He snapped, "I can't take pills!" 

They stared at each other for a long moment before Zero shook his head. "Is that it? Geez, even I can do THAT." 

Erts gave him a dirty look and retreated again. "I'm very happy for you, but I'M the one ill, aren't I?" 

Zero snickered. "You are an unpleasant little bastard when you're sick, aren't you?" 

"My body is one giant ACHE. My head doesn't feel connected to the rest of me. I'm not in the MOOD to put up with your nonsense, Zero!" 

Even so the words had no bite to them; he had noticed that no matter how hard Erts tried, the blond boy just couldn't seem to get angry with him. Zero pouted for a moment anyway before remembering that Erts couldn't see him. He picked up the journal, being quiet, and flipped it open. "Well," he reasoned at no one in particular, "since your day doesn't seem to be very exciting, why don't I tell you about mine?" 

Fidget from the covers. "It IS only noon," the other boy commented, as dryly as he could manage considering how wretched he sounded. "What have you done this time? Was it Hiead-kun again?" 

Zero bristled instinctively at the name. "Yeah, RIGHT! Like that guy's worth my time!" 

"You say that every day, Zero, but every day you go back to school and the two of you are trying to kill each other again before a half-hour is through..." 

He went on some more, about how if they'd just settle down they'd probably find that they had a lot in common. Or maybe it was about how fighting was bad and they should enjoy their lives instead of trying to ruin each others'. Erts was prone to giving him one or the other of them every time Hiead's name was brought up; Zero had heard them often enough that he felt comfortable browsing through the diary instead. 

_ Otousan's been trying to convince Okaasan that another pregnancy will be just fine,_   
_ but she's being quite adamant about being too old. It's been more than a decade since I_   
_ was a baby, do they really have the ability to care for a child at their age, by the time_   
_ she's in high school they'll be in nursing homes... But Otousan is really quite adamant, in_   
_ return, about wanting a girl. He wants to name her Elmyra. Okaasan thought that was_   
_ even sillier than wanting another infant this late in their lives. I have to agree..._

Zero smirked. Something about 'E' names and Tomas Cuore... 

Although Erts didn't date the journal entries, Zero knew when this had been. There had been a time briefly last year when he remembered coming over to dinner, and Tomas had joked about trying for a daughter, getting a laugh from Zero and a flat look from his wife. That had been it; apparently it had been a more prolonged issue in private. 

It was an interesting little tidbit to know, and exactly what Zero would expect from Erts. He scanned a bit further, finding the boy's own opinions on the issue below. 

_ ...but I might not mind a little sister. It might be nice not to be the youngest anymore._   
_ Zero once told me he envied me my family, and being the youngest, because it must be_   
_ nice to always have so many people to turn to, who would welcome you and cheer you up_   
_ no matter what.___

_ He is totally blind._

That statement gave him pause. Blind? Blind about what? There wasn't anything more; that was the end of the entry, but it wasn't a complete thought... 

Erts was still talking about Hiead, recollecting now, with something of an edge to his voice, a time three years ago when Hiead had made an insulting comment about one of his brothers ("Not even me, but Ernest-oniisan, as if Gareas-san doesn't get in enough trouble defending him") and even though the comment hadn't been directed at them, Zero had taken offense on Erts' behalf and tackled the taller boy. Zero remembered that day well: he'd nearly broken Hiead's nose. It had been one of the most satisfying moments of his life. 

Zero flipped ahead in the diary. He was seized by a sudden urge to find out something -- anything. Everybody had sordid little secrets, hidden thoughts and emotions, things that they hid from others, even best friends. It was rare indeed to have the chance to discover these things about Erts, who always seemed so perfect and untouchable. 

_ We went fishing today. I don't know WHY he wanted to go fishing, because it's one of the_   
_ most boring leisure time activities I can think of. I brought along a book, just in case I_   
_ ran out of patience with this "sport". Of course, I was going fishing with Zero -- I_   
_ should've known better than to assume that Zero would ever allow us to get bored. But_   
_ when he noticed that I had the book, he asked what it was, and if it was good, and when_   
_ I described it to him, he asked me to read it out loud... When I told him that it was really_   
_ much too long for that sort of thing, he responded that it was okay, because we'd be there_   
_ all afternoon, and then there'd be tomorrow, and the next day and the next day, and how_   
_ could it be too long when we were going to be together forever?___

_ I wonder how he knows just what to say._

Nothing there. That hadn't been much of a big deal; anyone who spent as much time around Erts as Zero had knew how much he loved to read out loud, and Zero's attention span was much too short to actually read a book, so the only way to keep his attention on something was for someone to read it out loud to him. It was a small gesture that had kept them both amused. There wouldn't be any scandalous secrets THERE. He skipped forward a few more pages. 

_ Erwin-oniisan and Alanna-san are talking about getting engaged again. This'll be the_   
_ third time they've TALKED about it instead of DOING it. We don't believe them anymore._   
_ Ernest-oniisan teased him about it, but then Erwin-oniisan got very defensive and started_   
_ saying how at least HE would be getting married and having children someday, which is_   
_ more than can be said for Ernest-oniisan...___

_ Me too, I suppose. I don't think they know yet, but it's only a matter of time._

Frustratingly, that was the end of the entry. Zero scanned the pages around it hopefully, half-expecting to read something about a family curse or a future in the clergy or a medical condition or something similarly radical to explain that, but there was no further address of the issue. He nearly tore out his hair in disbelief. 

"Zero, are you even listening to me?" came the outraged voice. 

"Of COURSE I'm listening to you," Zero said instantly, injecting every ounce of accusation that he could into his tone, putting the diary aside just in case, "but -- if you'll recall -- I was TRYING to tell you about my day before you went off on a tangent..." 

Instantly, the pile of blankets twitched. "Oh, Zero, I'm SORRY," Erts murmured, sounding genuinely mournful, as if he had witnessed the murder of Zero's mother and was bearing the bad news. "I didn't mean to get carried away--" 

"It's okay, I forgive you. That's what friends are for, after all, to put up with each others' obnoxious qualities!" Zero announced grandly, feeling Erts' regret shrivel and die around him with some measure of satisfaction. He didn't like it when Erts went guilt-stricken on him. Now that the chilly, somewhat offended silence had lowered the temperature in the room a full twenty degrees, he felt comfortable continuing. "NOW will you let me talk about what happened?" 

All unintended, his gaze slid over to the diary again. 

"Oh, sure. Talk away. I forgot for a minute that you were the center of the universe. My bad." Icicles dripped audibly from Erts' normally warm and pleasant voice. 

Zero puffed out his chest. "Well, I'll allow it this once." He would've liked to put more pompousness into the statement, but he was already distracted again by the journal that had somehow appeared in his hand. 

_ Today I encountered Clay-kun in the hallways... He likes talking to me, I think, because_   
_ I'm the only person in our class who even bothers to study. Probably when he thinks of_   
_ other remotely intelligent people, I'm one of the first names in his mind, solely by virtue_   
_ of the fact that I'm in their class in spite of being a year younger. I didn't have the heart_   
_ to tell him that I just went to school a year earlier than other children, it wasn't because_   
_ I'd skipped a grade somewhere along the line..._

Moron. He would have skipped a grade if he'd been with his peers, and everybody else knew it, and his parents had known it too -- that was WHY they'd sent him to school a year earlier than normal children. 

"This morning I woke up feeling kind of disoriented," Zero said easily, skimming along the passage. "I had breakfast as usual, chatted with Kaasan, you know the deal. It felt kinda surreal, but I was okay with it until I stepped outside and Clay and Kizna were waiting for me at the door. We always walk to school together." 

In the diary, his own name caught his eye-- 

_ ...Clay-kun wound up telling me about Zero as a child, before I moved here. All sorts_   
_ of stories... Imagine the blackmail opportunities if I ever needed help from Zero!..._

Clay, that traitor, had given fodder to Erts before it had even occurred to Zero to find some against him! It wasn't fair. 

Somewhat riled, but refusing to let it show, Zero tucked the journal behind the back of the chair and went on without missing a beat. "I got all freaky at that point. I asked them why they were dressed like that, how they could be on my colony, whatever a colony is supposed to be, and then -- check this out -- I got all upset about the SKY. Isn't that weird? I somehow thought that there ought to be walls around the sky, because otherwise the air would rush out and stuff." 

Erts pried the covers back down and raised one hand to his forehead to squint out at Zero; apparently, even though the light was behind him, it hurt his eyes. "Were you dizzy?" he asked, all concern again. "Are you sure you're not sick or something?" 

Zero grinned automatically in response and suppressed the urge to reach out and hug him. "I'm fine," he assured him. "Or, at least, I am NOW." 

Erts made a vague noise of discontent and wrapped himself in the blankets again. "Okay, go on." 

First, Zero made another quick scan for blackmail stuff, only finding more of his own, and then: 

_ ...so many cute stories, though. He must've been adorable when he was younger,_   
_ although I suppose that being even younger myself I wouldn't have been able to_   
_ appreciate it at the time. I found myself a bit jealous of Clay-kun, for having been_   
_ there, for having known him all that time, for being so close to him...___

_ I know that I'm Zero's best friend. To be jealous of Clay-kun... that's just petty, isn't it?_   
_ It's selfish. Why can't what I have be enough?_

Zero frowned at that. WHAT wasn't enough? 

"Zero, is something wrong?" The blankets disengaged in a flurry, and Zero only barely managed to return the book to its proper place before Erts sat up, worried. "You're so quiet..." 

"Sorry!" he chirped, managing to look abashed and endeavoring not to look guilty. "I was thinking." 

It wasn't a lie, either. He was definitely thinking by now. 

And that was the key to dealing with Erts, to not lie; the near-legendary sensitivity of the Cuore family gave him the ability to recognize when people weren't telling the truth, and nothing would clam one up faster than deliberate lying. The boy relaxed immediately, still looking faintly torn, as if uncertain whether or not to demand that Zero go home and lie down immediately, which he was probably on the verge of doing. 

Zero smiled. "After I pulled myself together, we went on to school, where things were STILL really weird." 

The resuming of the story seemed to make Erts feel infinitely better. He relaxed again, lying back against the pillows. He fidgeted around until he found a comfortable position, then curled around to look at Zero, expectant. 

Zero wanted nothing more than to have a few moments to stop and just THINK about things, but if he asked for a contemplative time-out Erts would not only conclude that he was most certainly ill, he might even begin to wonder if maybe some stranger hadn't switched places with him overnight. So, strangely reluctant, he fixed his gaze on some point in the corner and continued sheepishly, "The others were poking fun at me all before class. I was kinda... dazed." 

Erts demanded in surprise, "You mean you didn't HIT anyone? Was Hiead-kun already unconscious, or something?" 

"Hiead wasn't in school today," he brushed off. "Probably sick, too, or whatever. I hope he's got nobody to look after him, obnoxious son of a--" Zero cut off abruptly as he suddenly realized that Erts was directing a pointed look at the back of his head. He ran a hand through his hair, and it came back with white chalk dust all over it. 

Erts' amusement was palpable. "What inspired Azuma-sensei to throw an eraser at your head today?" he asked dryly. "Was it the same thing as usual?" 

"Kinda, and yet not. Can I tell the story?" 

"My lips are sealed. Not another peep from me." 

"I believe THAT," Zero muttered, turning back to the bed and getting a truly dazzling smile in return, designed specifically to wear him down. Erwin liked to say that his kid brothers had developed their own unique but equally effective methods of winning people over: Ernest had taught himself a lost-waif, poor-abandoned-orphan, please-comfort-me expression which, according to Erwin, had not yet let him down, whereas Erts had perfected the art of smiling angelically until inevitably his friends and relations melted into puddles of touchy-feely, randomly happy goo. 

Zero refused to look at that smile for longer than was absolutely unavoidable. Although he didn't seem like it at first, Erts could be positively vicious in his sarcasm around people he felt comfortable with; it wouldn't do to be vulnerable when the blond was in a tetchy mood. He casually flipped around in his chair to study the far wall instead. His eyes wandered over to the diary, but there was no way to pick it up again without Erts noticing. 

Erts, finding him blind for wanting someone to turn to -- for not noticing someone who would be there for him? Erts, recalling idle days and getting sentimental -- and getting perhaps a bit overly sentimental for so seemingly innocuous a moment? Erts, talking to Clay, but about Zero -- always about Zero -- and being jealous that Clay had known him longer.... 

_These aren't normal friendship types of things, are they?_ Zero wondered. _I must be missing something here._

But he didn't have time to consider the matter. Erts was still waiting. Steeling himself, he muttered, "Where was I?" 

"Everyone was making fun of you. Poor baby." 

Erts was having WAY too much fun with this. Time to sober up the giggly blond and get some proper sympathy out of him. "I started hallucinating," Zero stated evenly. 

It didn't get quite the expected reaction; Erts rocketed upright so fast that he yelped and clutched at his head, looking faintly green. Zero jerked around. "Hey, hey, look out for yourself, you moron," he snapped, reaching out and shoving Erts back to the bed. "You stay right there, I'm going to go get you something." 

"No, you don't have to. I'm really alright," Erts told him immediately, waving him off. "Just... WHAT happened?" 

"I started seeing things," Zero said, keeping a wary eye on the younger boy in case he decided to do something stupid, like try to sit up again, or -- worse -- to throw up. "It was practically straight from a sci-fi movie. There was this military academy, and it was on this huge spaceship, and aliens were out to destroy the planet... Well, not really aliens, I don't think..." 

The blond boy gave him a suspicious look. "Are you sure you didn't just drift off while Azuma-sensei was talking?" 

"No!" Zero ran a hand through his hair, looking for a way to express what he had felt. "It was LIKE a daydream, but much more REAL. I was actually physically THERE, experiencing stuff! There was touch and taste and pain and the people there looked like YOU guys, all my friends. And when I talked to Clay, he was even telling me stuff I didn't know about, and it was still ALL TRUE!" 

"Stuff you didn't know about...? Like what?" 

"Like, he told me about the horizon, and I've never--" Zero drew himself up short, then shook his head bemusedly. "There I go again." 

Erts propped himself up on one arm slowly, studying Zero's face with careful deliberation. "What were things like when you were in this other place?" he asked, still rising. 

Zero debated making him sit back down again, but decided against it because he was being so cautious. "Oh, well, I seemed to think that THAT was the real world, and THIS place was something I'd dreamed up. You weren't there at all -- I spent my spare time with Clay and Yamagi, I must've been desperate for friends! -- and I didn't think it was weird. Also, we piloted these big mecha, but they weren't the BIGGEST, and we weren't really pilots for reasons I don't completely remember. And I distinctly recall being able to make things blow up." 

That, after all, had been hard to forget. 

There was a long moment of silence. Erts sat in the middle of his hurricane of blankets and stared with unseeing eyes at the wall, processing and evaluating the incongruous things he had been told. Zero waited tensely for a response, but when none seemed forthcoming, he allowed his attention to drift, and found it fixed on the diary again, and then he was distracted yet again by the unspoken meaning behind it's plain riddles. 

He was startled out of his contemplation when Erts shifted slightly, turning to face him, expression neutral. "Zero... may I..." Hesitantly, he lifted his hand, and then stopped as if uncertain of what to do with it. 

Zero understood. "Always," he said easily, and grabbed his hand. 

The reason the Cuore family maintained that they stayed away from cities was because their younger sons were of frail health. 'Ernest is so delicate,' they would say, or 'Erts has such a reserved disposition'. They were afraid that 'the energy and life of the city would overwhelm them', and that they would 'feel lost and confused in the center of so many people'. 

Those words were only partially right; the real reason the Cuore family refused to live in the cities was because of the strange gift they had. Everyone save Erwin -- even Renee, who had only married into the family, had developed the talent over time -- had a near-mystical ability to feel what other people felt, sometimes to the degree where they couldn't separate themselves. Erwin had dubbed it empathy jokingly, but the term was actually quite appropriate. Ernest was not delicate so much as he was eternally aware of everyone else's emotions; Erts was not reserved so much as he was trying to avoid unnecessary, uncontrolled, and intrusive empathic contact with others. The energy and life of the city would overwhelm them because it would pulse within their minds every time they began to relax; being in the center of so many people would make them feel lost and confused indeed, and even had the potential to make them forget who they really were, drowning them in the consciousness of others. 

Erts very rarely touched people, although he had been friends with the physically expressive Zero for so long that this self-defense reaction had been worn to a thread when they were together. Zero was aware that Erts would be 'reading' him whenever they touched, and it didn't bother him in the slightest, but even so, Erts still felt this odd need to ask for permission before touching him with deliberate intent. 

The blond boy had closed his eyes, to absorb the contact and sort through what he felt there. There was no sensation of the contact at all; Erts was a silent, invisible, unnoticeable presence inside Zero's head, and Zero would be completely unaware of their connection if not for the subtle, soothing warmth that enveloped him as Erts searched out the incident in his mind. 

Then Erts drew back again, and the contact was gone, leaving Zero feeling somewhat hollow but enthusiastic. "Did you see? Can you SEE that it's real now?" 

"Yes," Erts murmured, visibly shaken. "Whatever it was, it definitely happened. You really were someplace else, someONE else, for that time." Zero reached out and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. Erts smiled at him, a fleeting and not entirely genuine expression that was gone again almost the moment it appeared. "There's more, isn't there?" he pressed. "What else happened?" 

Although he must have noticed Zero's seething curiosity, he had probably misplaced the source -- imagined that he was eager to find an explanation for what had occurred that morning, rather than somehow guessing that his diary had lit the flame. Zero was almost disappointed. 

He gathered his wandering thoughts and nodded. "Well, Azuma threw an eraser at my head--" 

"You should be more polite," Erts scolded automatically. "Azuma-SENSEI." 

"AZUMA threw an eraser at my head and told me not to daydream in his class. I reached into my pocket for a napkin or something--" 

"What were you doing with a NAPKIN in your pocket--" 

"And I pulled out THIS." Zero waved the handkerchief triumphantly. "Look, see, it has the same symbol on it that the military academy had!" 

Erts waited patiently for Zero to calm down and give him the cloth. He studied the monogram on it carefully, frowning. "I've seen this symbol before," he said, half to himself. "And this word... What is it?" 

"It's an acronym, I think. It's supposed to stand for Goddess something-or-other Academy." 

"Goddess?" Erts gave him a skeptical look and returned his attention to the cloth. "Where... where have I..." 

"When I saw that, I just thought all of a sudden that I didn't belong here, that everything about this place was wrong, that I needed to get back," Zero narrated grimly. "And weird stuff started happening. Papers and pencils suddenly started flying around the classroom, and then books, and DESKS and PEOPLE. Kizna told me my hair was glowing, and I know I was somehow making everything levitate like that." 

Erts had abandoned the damning handkerchief to stare at him, amazed. "Levitate...?" he repeated. 

"And THEN I think I got something in the chem lab, because there was a big explosion." Zero sighed and folded his arms on the back of the chair, resting his chin against them. "Everything went crashing to the ground, and Azuma told me to go down to Dr. Rill RIGHT away and then go home and NOT come back until I had been exorcised or something." 

His lips twitched briefly at the mention of a potential exorcism, but Erts quickly regained his solemnity and demanded, "Were you hurt at all? You would've said something if you were hurt, right?" 

"Are you kidding? I would've whined like there's no tomorrow," Zero promised him, and won back that smile as Erts relaxed again. "I don't suppose you have any ideas?" 

Erts shook his head. "I can only wonder if maybe it isn't along the lines of alternate universes. If you go for that kind of theory, we can assume that somewhere out there is a parallel version of you, and something brought him to the edges of reality; he accidentally wound up trading places with you for a while until he could regain his own balance and go home." 

Zero lifted his eyebrows, but said nothing. 

The blond boy continued to puzzle over the cloth as he went on, "Maybe where he comes from, people have magic, or a close facsimile thereof, and that's how he could make things float or explode..." He trailed off and smiled sheepishly. "Though that doesn't sound too likely, does it?" 

"Aw, I don't know. I wouldn't mind being a sorcerer, having a few dragons to slay, finding myself a couple of damsels in distress to rescue or a princess to fight for..." Zero's teasing comment came to a crashing halt as Erts' smile froze in place for a moment, then melted away. "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing," Erts said hastily. "But I just remembered. GOA is the acronym for the Genetic Order Application program, which is all about tinkering with inheritable factors and DNA and the like, and this IS their symbol. Didn't your mother used to say that your father worked in that field...?" 

"Yeah... Tousan was supposed to be some sort of genetic engineer, or genetic researcher, or something," Zero mused aloud. 

Erts nodded to himself. "If he worked for GOA, then that explains how you caught up with this, doesn't it?" 

"But if we're going to accept the fact that there are people from other dimensions involved in my little schizophrenia trip today, why can't we just say that it came with him?" Zero objected. "It's got the same symbol and acronym as his organization--" 

"He traded PLACES with you, Zero; he didn't bring luggage with him. In the vision, he wasn't wearing the same clothes that you were, was he?" 

Not even remotely. "No..." 

"So there's no reason for him to have brought this hand-towel along, but then left it behind when he went home again. We can only assume that you had this beforehand, and he just happened to see something that corresponded with his military academy, which made him panic." Erts shrugged, half-heartedly. 

And then, all at once, Erts spotted the journal. His cheeks flushed bright red and he reached for it with what he obviously hoped was a casual gesture. 

Zero snatched it out of his grasp, immediately seizing upon his chance. "Never figured you for the diary-keeping type somehow," he said light-heartedly as he watched the blood drain again from Erts' face. "Let's see, what did you write yesterday..." 

"Zero, there's nothing interesting in there, please give it back," came the choked request. 

He flipped to the last written page and scanned it. "Oh, what's this? TODAY'S entry, even. Is that why this was out where anybody could see it? Because you'd only barely finished writing in it?" 

"Zero, come on, give it here--" 

"'I woke up with a full-blown case of the flu this morning,'" Zero read out loud. Erts made a lunge for the book; the older boy stood up and held the journal out of reach as he continued. "'To use a really stupid analogy that is all I can think up in my present state of wretchedness, it's rather akin to finding a flower which is somehow Hell incarnate. Then you take the flower and stick it up your nose. If you find any more, you can stick them down your throat and in your ears. Then, with any luck, you pass out until somebody's removed them and you feel better.'" He paused, then said confidentially, "That IS a really stupid comparison." 

Erts looked like he might die of sheer horror any moment. "Zero, please. Give it back to me." 

He sounded so pathetic and unhappy that Zero almost relented. 

But he thought he knew what was going on now. 

And he needed to see if he was right. 

"'I would like nothing more than to pass out, and hopefully not wake up for another two or three days at least. Mortal language can not describe the misery of my condition. I need somebody to come along and take the damn flowers out so I can breathe again.'" Zero smirked. "Cursing, Erts? That's not like you." 

"I think I'm going to be sick," Erts observed, conversationally. 

"You'll want to do that in the bathroom, at the toilet," Zero contributed in an insincere effort at helpfulness, and read on. "'Specifically, I suppose I'm waiting for Zero to come. It's no surprise to me that I feel that while he's here, I'll forget all about my suffering and just be able to live for a bit. He won't stay around, of course, because there's no fun in a sick friend, but while he's here, maybe I'll be able to find happiness for just a little while. 

"'Of course, I'll probably be waiting forever.'" 

Zero snapped the book shut and grinned at Erts, feeling almost hyper with glee, despite the crushed, defeated look on Erts' face. "You like to end your diary entries like that, don't you?" he noted, watching the closed-off expression flee before a shocked stare. "Little meaningful one-liners. They're really kind of obnoxious, especially since you're only making yourself suffer here." 

"How do you know?" Erts whispered, one hand flying to clench in the pinstriped pajama shirt, above his heart. "How could you--" 

"I've been reading some of them," Zero admitted, unrepentant. "I started putting some things together. You want to explain it to me?" 

Erts bit his lip and shook his head mutely. "I'm sorry, Zero, I'm so sorry--" 

"Well, if you can't explain, you can't, no need to be sorry," he interrupted, deliberately misinterpreting the apology. "How about we play Twenty Questions and I can guess for myself?" 

"Zero--" 

"Okay! Question one is, does this THING have anything to do with your family?" He thought that he might never recover from the disappointment if it were a fraternal experience at this point. 

"I can't--" 

"Yes or no," Zero pushed. 

The blond boy made a distressed sound and wrapped himself in the blankets again, hiding like a panicked child. "No," he managed. 

He took a deep breath. "Question two: Is your brother Ernest gay?" How many times had the younger Cuore brothers been compared, how many times had Zero himself compared them...? 

"...yes..." 

Zero couldn't do it any more. He couldn't drag it out like this against the heartbreak in Erts' voice. "Question three." The words almost wouldn't come out; it seemed so surreal to be saying them. "Are you in love with me?" 

No sound, no movement came from the blankets. 

It was as good as confirmation. Zero supposed he didn't need the words just yet. It already felt like his world had expanded to a new plane of being just at the sudden realization. Unable to express it in any other way, he just threw himself down onto the bed, getting a muffled squawk in return. "Move over," he ordered, and Erts rearranged himself to emerge from the blankets again, sitting up, appearing to have regained his dignity. 

"Zero, I'm so very sorry," he said firmly, ignoring the fact that the supposedly outraged and disgusted person was squirming into a more comfortable position across his bed, completely relaxed. "It wasn't supposed to be like this, I never meant to let it come between us--" 

"The only thing coming between us is your comforter," Zero said, tugging at the article in question. "And six more thick quilts, but I'll be happy if you just get rid of the one." 

Erts was not about to lose his composure now that he had found it. He continued resolutely, even though he was obviously addressing some other person: "I know you're upset, but I want you to know that I don't think this needs to come between our friendship. I'm not going to ask anything of you. I want you to know that your friendship is more important to me than--" 

"You're going to make a pretty boring boyfriend if all you ever do is tell me about how you want us to still be friends no matter what," Zero grumbled, closing his eyes. 

He didn't need to see Erts to know that he'd stiffened in shock, because the motion jarred the mattress underneath them; and he disctintly heard the breath catching in Erts' throat as Zero's behavior finally caught up with him. "What... what are you...?" 

"And I don't want to hear any of that 'I won't tell anyone, they don't need to know' stuff either," the brunette said airily. "If you're my boyfriend, I'm going to tell everyone. And I'm going to be proud of it, too!" 

"Zero..." 

"And no crying," Zero warned, sitting up and grinning lopsidedly, leaning close until their foreheads touched. "This is a happy moment, so you can't cry, okay?" 

In a sudden, almost violent gesture, Erts flung himself forward and clung to Zero, whispering in his ear, "I love you so much!" 

Yesterday, this situation would've been bewildering, alarming, disturbing. But that had been before he had taken a look into another world where life had been short and fear-filled and violent, even if he hadn't paid much attention to it; before he had taken a look into a world where, worst of all, he hadn't had Erts there beside him, always. 

And today he felt like a new person, like he'd finally grown up, and today it felt like he held perfection in his arms and could breathe heaven in its silky blond hair. He hadn't even realized how unhappy he'd been at the prospect of life without Erts, not until it had been brought to his attention just how deep their attachment went. Zero closed his eyes again and just lived. 

When Erts drew back his head, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for Zero to rebridge that distance and kiss him. 

It was a glorious ten seconds of fluid compliance and eager response before suddenly Erts gasped against his mouth and shoved him away. Zero fell onto the bed, caught by surprise, and Erts scrambled backwards to the headboard. 

They gaped at each other for a long moment, Zero utterly baffled by the abrupt about-face and Erts staring at him in horror, one trembling hand covering his lips. 

"What was THAT?" Zero sputtered. 

"Zero, I have the flu!" Erts hissed. 

The two of them stared at each other, and then burst out laughing. 

* * *

And there you have it. Pure, irredeemable Zero/Erts fluff. Not only that, but totally AU. Well. ^__^ Enjoy as you will~. 

--Kay Willow, squelching the urge to be insecure about the fic and returning to editing character profiles   
AIM: Savinsilk   
Email: Kay_Willow@hotmail.com   
Quote: Killua from Hunter X Hunter, in regard to Leorio's Mad Bargaining Skillz!, because I love this quote just that much. ^^ 

"I've never seen anyone get applauded for buying a cel-phone before." 


End file.
